ATA Reservation Odyssey

[DemoBri1]

Boy did I have to jump through some hoops today in securing my flight out of Midway for our November trip. There are 8 of us going (technically not a Magical Gathering because my youngest is 2). It seems as though ATA's online reservation system will only allow you to reserve 7 seats at a time, so I had to split the reservation up into two...4 and 4.

So...I get the first reservation done with me, DW, DS, and DD. Got a good rate of $175 r/t incl all fees and taxes. I then go back into the system to get the other 4 seats, and lo and behold the r/t fare is above $200!!! This really stinks, so I call ATA and have them do a check for me, they came up with the $200 fare as well. The agent was very nice and she did some checking for me. It appeared that I was one seat over the alotted number of seats for that particular fare, so what I had to do was split this reservation into a reservation of 3 and a reservation of 1.

I'm going to be keeping tabs on the fares for this flight though to see if they go back down.

Just a word of warning...if you see that good fare grab it!!! You just never know when the fares will go up literally right before your eyes.

Brian

 

[Ralph&Pam]

Originally posted by DemoBri1
....snip...

Just a word of warning...if you see that good fare grab it!!! You just never know when the fares will go up literally right before your eyes.

Brian

The airlines (and car rental companies and many hotel chains as well) use computer modeling software that continuously monitors demand and seat availability and adjusts pricing minute-to-minute to maximize the expected revenues from each flight. Availability of particular fares will depend on the current demand in real time. When you booked the first four seats, the "demand" for that particular flight was increased and the "supply" was reduced. Hence the price went up (insert something about supply and demand and their impact on the cost of goods from Economics 101). One of my former student has been developing the computer pricing models for Continental Airlines for the last few years.

Ralph

 

[sgtdisney]

Ralph is absolutely right. It is amazing how quickly the prices can adjust, with that software. We bought 6 tickets for our upcoming trip at one price and then went back in and tried to book a ticket for my Brother in law who is joining us later but flying back with us. His ticket went up 20.00 because we took up all the available 'seats' at the lower price on the return trip. I told him to wait an hour or so, since the return flight was empty and I had a feeling the fares would readjust down again, but he didn't want to risk it, so he paid the additional 20.00. Two hours later I went in and checked his fare again, and the fare (for him) dropped back to his original price. I would be willing to bet that, unless your flights are really full, if you priced one flight on the exact same flights you are now booked on the fare may have dropped already.

 

[DemoBri1]

Actually...the prices are basically at the same level that I purchased them at. Maybe there was a drop of a couple of bucks, but that's it.

I'm sure they're probably going down before we leave, but I wanted to buy them with the same lead time as last year.


Thank you both for your replies. That info is good to know.

Brian

 

[sgtdisney]

Originally posted by DemoBri1
Actually...the prices are basically at the same level that I purchased them at. Maybe there was a drop of a couple of bucks, but that's it.

I'm sure they're probably going down before we leave, but I wanted to buy them with the same lead time as last year.

I don't blame you at all. We kind of jumped on our tickets when they hit 175.00. With the way fuel costs are as of late and everything else it is better safe than sorry. We had planned on driving, but decided it was better to fly at that price.

I think the days of 128.00 airfares from Chicago are pretty much gone, at least for a while. Have a great trip.